10/08/2011

been a bit quiet on the blog front last few weeks, there is a reason, weve been working hard!Couple of major site launches and the development of our own internal products.Late September will see the launch of SharpStay a low cost fully featured website system for bed and breakfast, self catering, villa owners and small hotels.Using a template system (or custom design) the site will feature an easy to use, feature rich cms system allowing the site owners to easily:• update the site themselves• upload room details• photographs• room rates• availability calendars• receive enquiries• own domain name• professional emailAnd all for less than 10 pounds a month, so you will always know what your website will cost you and you can update it as often as you like, change templates etc.Full details on SharpStay will be in the news section once launched.This is the first in a series of in-house solutions we will be rolling out on a low-cost basis.

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Website Programming

Keywords: SharpStay, low cost accommodation website, bed and breakfast, self catering, villas

19/07/2011

We're all guilty of it, i'll do that tomorrow is a common phrase when it comes to updating the company website.I'll hold my hand up and say "I do it too" its often the least priority in the daily work schedule.But when you actually do the update, like the blog im doing now, it only takes a few minutes, in fact this one is taking less time than the time to drink the tea ive got here!Keeping your website updated regularly will help keep returning visitors interested (theres always something new to catch up on), keep the search engines coming back for new content and help build up your online presence.Using twitter as a feed into the web pages is a quick and easy way to do this, using either a javascript you can place in the page (this doesnt help with seo as the content is written to the browser so is not actually part of the website coding that Google would pick up on) or using a server side script (as we do) we poll the rss feed for changes and cache a copy, then break up the xml, and display within the websites coding.If that sounds complicated, basically we display it on the page in a way Google etc can pick up on it, so an update to twitter, updates all our pages with the new headline.Try and find half hour a week, write a blog or a news item, its time well spent in the long run even if it does seem hard to fit in at the time.

Neil Meads

Tags: Social Media

Keywords: updating your website

14/06/2011

If you operate a large website producing sitemaps and submitting them to the likes of Google (via webmaster tools) is a great way to help get all your pages listed.The XML sitemaps have a limit of 50,000 entries per file, so if you are working on a site (like the one we have been) with 43,000,000 pages, then you need lots of sitemaps.Thankfully the sitemap index file is now here!By using the sitemap index you can list your individual sitemaps in one file (up to 50,000) and just submit that one xml file to google.When you add a new sitemap just update the index and it will get picked up by Google.The xml sitemap index file should look like this:http://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap1.xml2011-06-12T11:12:13+00:00http://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap2.xml2011-06-12T12:01:27+00:00That sitemap lists 2 sitemaps, so by submitting one sitemap index file to google you can then keep adding and adding to it, without needing to keep setting up individual sitemaps in google.

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Website Programming

Keywords: sitemap index file, xml sitemap management

24/05/2011

When you are looking at the keywords for your website when performing seo, do you consider the localisation of them?For example we have been doing some seo for a company recently that provides a service, ie they have to go and physically perform a service at the clients place of work, but their website was setup using generic terms.This meant that although they were getting traffic, if it wasnt in the area they covered then the enquiries were not of use to them.By adding in the area covered, counties / main towns not only do they help come up in the searches people are performing for services within the local area, but also the enquiries that come through are of a higher interest.You may find the page views and visitors drop off by concentrating on the local area searches, but if you need the end client to be within your local area you are targetting them specifically, 10 highly targetted visitors is better than 30 from all over the country.Planning your seo around what your business does is the key to getting results and remember it will not ever be an overnight success, seo is a long term investment of time and money.

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Search Engine Optimisation

Keywords: seo, local searches

11/05/2011

Middle day of the Internet World show today at Earls Court, took the team down to London for a look round at the latest industry exhibition.This year it seemed to offer more, there were lots of companies offering the same things, managed servers, hosting etc, but lots more smaller companies offering more niche products (although some we could easily build ourselves if needed!).The magician on the red stand was as entertaining as ever (he's really good, pay a visit!) video seemed to be making more of an impact this year, weve been looking and experimenting with green screens and chroma keying here which was useful to see some of the equipment being used by other companies.Had a good chance to talk to the various payment proessors this year as we have our own specific needs for them later in the year and a chance to review the nominet portal was an eye opener for them I think (we were a bit frank!)So thats that for this year, 2012 will be here before we know it!

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Managed Servers

Keywords: internet world 2011, earls court

13/04/2011

Are you using twitter for your website / product promotion?Ive not been that big a fan of twitter, still prefer emails myself to keep in touch, but the more you use it the more benefits you can see.As a mass talk to your contacts tool its really easy, quick due to the limit on characters and you often get instant(ish) responses back.By embedding the twitter rss feed into your web pages, you can then keep your website looking a bit more fresh and up to date as well.The only word of caution I would employ is how often you post, we all have the one person on our following list who lives on twitter: woke up, getting dressed, brushing teeth, eating toast, drinking tea the volume of messages makes them less enticing to read.Used in the right amount twitter can enhance your promotions, use it carefully and you will build up an audience, if nothing else its fun and easy to do!

Neil Meads

Tags: Search Engine Optimisation  |  Social Media

Keywords: twitter

16/03/2011

Internet world is coming up at Earls Court in a few weeks, are you going?Our industry exhibition can be similar to some, but if you look year on year at the different trends and products on offer, you can see new emerging markets.That is what we look for when we go there, sure theres the great magician just inside the door as always on the "red" stand, very entertaining draws in a crowd, but sometimes its the smaller companies who are providing the new services ahead of time.IPTV, advances in live 3d rendering and others caught our eye last year, theres companies offering the standard stuff: ecommerce, dedicated servers, managed servers etc which is fine (we offer them ourselves!) but the niche markets are the ones of interest.Speaking to the smaller companies gets you talking to fellow developers not sales people and gives you that insight into not only their services, but how you can partner with them and integrate into your own technologies.Maybe we'll see you there!

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Website Programming

Keywords: intenet world 2011

09/02/2011

Email marketing done correctly can be a very cost effective way of marketing.Not only on that initial send out, but by using the tracking of click throughs you can see who is looking at what products and services and use that information in follow up campaigns.Unlike a postal campaign email marketing is real-time and provides feedback, something you cannot do with a mailshot unless you ring up every one and ask them what they looked at, did they read it etc.Email marketing provides detailed feedback: -• Who opened the email?• Which links did people click on?and moreAllowing you to send more targetted campaigns in the future by collating the information together.Sending out the emails from outlook may be a quick way to do it, but you lose the tracking capailities a professionally sent can provide, losing you valuable data for follow up campaigns.

Neil Meads

Tags:

Keywords: email marketing

06/01/2011

The new year sales are in full swing, hope your business was ready for them.Planning your year ahead online can bring big rewards, getting your seasonal items ready ahead of time, building up the search engine positioning in advance of when people will start searching is all part of your online marketing strategy.Making sure you can pre-load the special offers and christmas items ahead of time, will make your life easier and less stressful.Now is the time to sit down and plan the year out, once you have this year done, next year will be a breeze as it will be so similar.

Neil Meads

Tags: Search Engine Optimisation

Keywords: planning your year online

01/01/2011

2011 is here!Happy new year to existing and future clients.Hoping the economy picks up and your online marketing takes off.Big plans here for this year, will be rolling out new services and offerings as the year goes on.

Neil Meads

Tags: Website Programming

Keywords:

25/12/2010

Merry Xmas...Whose looking after your hosting today, making sure its running as it should?Our team are keeping things running smooth as silk.Im not the only one working today!

Neil Meads

Tags: Hosting Servers  |  Managed Servers

Keywords: hosting support

25/12/2010

I'm working too, no let up in service from us over the Xmas period!Merry Christmas!

Luke Drewer

Tags: Managed Servers

Keywords:

13/12/2010

Its the time of year the ecom sites take a hammering...Last minute shopping (or as late as we dare leave it before the delivery wont make it).Most of the big retailers i've been using are runnign fine, one a little sluggish, but still usable.How is your site going? Is it coping with the extra traffic this time of year brings?Loving the way the bigger retailers are very promintently displaying the last order date for guaranteed delivery, very enticing to dive in and make the purchase!

Neil Meads

Tags: Hosting Servers

Keywords: Xmas shopping

12/11/2010

Web hosting companies are ten a penny these days with new ones springing up all the time and design agencies just reselling someone else's services, which is fine to a point, if you have a small brochure style site you are unlikely to encounter many problems.But if you have a large online application, do you really know what servers your website is running on? Who is running the server infrastructure? What security measures do they take and how backups are done (if you are thinking now that you should check to see if your site is actually being backed up, please call us!)At Toile Solutions we own the physical servers we run, and its a big stack of them (I know because I signed the cheque!), all housed in racks in a top specification London Data Centre.Our server team run the servers, firewalls and networking within the hosting infrastructure (we also own and run that hardware.) Unlike many companies who are simply re-selling anothers service, we are in complete control, so can offer whatever you need.We currently run large scale websites delivering 5 million+ database driven pages per month, online payroll and financial applications, e-commerce sites and we are about to start deploying virtualised small business server online. Our server team have done extensive work for large international financial institutes, which means we are also a secure hosting environment.If you are thinking of renewing your hosting or your servers coming round to renewal in an uprgade cycle why not give us a call, we are happy to talk techy if you wish or explain it all in easy terms, whatever floats your boat.I nearly forgot to mention were offering 3 months free server hosting to all new clients who sign up for 12 months..... (ok i didnt really forget i just left if til last for a big ending!)Toile Solutions - more than just a Web Design Agency in London!

Neil Meads

Tags: Hosting Servers  |  Small Business Server  |  Dedicated Servers

Keywords: Dedicated Servers, Virtual Servers, Small Business Server Online

27/10/2010

Question: What Do You Want From Your Audience? Answer: A Reaction?Whether you are looking for your audience to buy your product, sign up to your newsletter or enquire about your services you want them to react - right?There is nothing like getting a reaction than to stir up some human emotion. Example of the human reactions your website would generate could include pain, love, laughter or compassion. An obvious industry to look at would be the insurance industry. They use NEGATIVE human emotion to persuade you to buy into their services - they will show you what would happen if your house burnt down or you suffered a major injury. Our approach is to stick to POSITIVE emotions. My old Manager said to me "If you send me anything in the post, make sure it makes me laugh; it's the only junk I will bother to read!"Have a think about your own products and/or services and think about what emotions you can stir up whilst ensuring there is a call to react.

Luke Drewer

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Social Media

Keywords: Website Content, Online Emotion, Visitor Reaction

22/10/2010

It may only be mid-October but you need to plan ahead!Is your website ready for the Christmas shopping period?Have you left it too late to maximise this year's online shopping period?By now as a retailer you should have your Christmas products all entered and sitting in your e-commerce system, ready to launch now or a little closer to the big day.If you have your products online already then you will be starting to enjoy the SEO benefits gained through early listings on Google, Bing etc, it takes time for pages to be indexed and ranked, so listing them that little bit earlier will give you that head start.How has your site performance been recently?If you have experienced any outages or slow running speeds, then an upgrade to the hosting would be advisable, if your site is very slow or crashes due to the extra Christmas shopping traffic you won't maximise your sites potential during the holiday build up.After Christmas it's sale time, can you easily add any discounts via your e-commerce system?If the answer is "NO" you should be thinking about how to tackle that, as it will take some time.The post Christmas sales also place extra strains on servers with more and more traffic, so again monitor your sites performance and consider upgrading if this is an issue.Do you know who is offering your website the support over the Christmas period?If your site goes offline in the build up to Christmas or over the New Year who is responsible for getting you back online?Support is crucial at this time of year, every hour that you're offline you're losing money. Make sure your investment in your website is providing what your need to run your business.

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Hosting Servers  |  Search Engine Optimisation

Keywords: ecommerce, xmas shopping, new year sales, server performance

18/10/2010

Making your website stand out from the crowd is something we specialise in.Anyone can knock together some pages, programmers can build the content and you can get stock imagery for the pages, but so can everyone else.Google and the other search engines are looking for unique content. Writing good unique content for your website is a must, but why stop there? The imagery does not have to be the same as everyone else. Remember, you can get traffic from the image searches as well.We've just completed a second nights photo shoot in London.Our Web Design London team were out capturing more imagery for our website, making all our images completely unique. What you see on our website is taken by us, and so will help it stand out.Unique websites take a little longer to do, but the benefits for the long term are much greater.

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Social London

Keywords: web design london, photoshoot

12/10/2010

When planning out a website, it takes time, do it correctly the first time and it will pay off in the long term.Too often we see clients who want to dive straight into designing the site, before they even know what sections/functionality/content the website will have. Until the content is decided upon the structure of the menu cannot be decided upon, and that will impact the layout as it could be a horizontal, vertical or both style menu system.At Toile Solutions the detail is the first thing we will get right, once all the information is gathered the rest will fall into place.One analogy we use is "its like trying to build a house without the plans" you don't know what it looks like, how many rooms there are, where the doors go, etc, etc.Careful planning of a website will help with updating and expanding in the future and is vital before proceeding with the design and seo elements of the build.For more information on Web Design in London pleae get in touch.

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Search Engine Optimisation  |  Marketing Advice

Keywords: web design london, site planning, menu structure

04/10/2010

Imagine you are having a conversation with a client...What Questions Are Your Clients Asking? How Are You Answering Those Questions? Think About It - Does Your Client Understand Your Answer? Are You Clearly Explaining What You Mean? Does Your Client Get It?Now apply the same question that your clients are asking to your website. Does your website clearly answer those questions? The only difference between your client asking you a question and a client asking your website the same question is that you only have microseconds on a website to answer it. Also think about the way you are answering your clients on a website - does your answer have personality? For example - think about the following question:-Q: Can you tell me how I can contact you?A: It's up there on the tool bar - open your eyes!Or how about an answer with personality:-A: Hey, we would love to hear from you - simply call our number clearly displayed on every page or fill in this short form. While you are doing that would you mind giving us some feedback? We value every response.Web conversations are crucial in every website and can be achieved through copy and design.

Luke Drewer

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Social London

Keywords: Web, Conversation, Client, Questions, Answers

27/09/2010

How many of you spend hours each week checking and re-checking your Google positions?Quite a few I bet, I have been a self-confessed Google checker myself.We've noticed a bit of a jump, drop, bounce trend in the Google updates recently, client sites climb a few places drop nearly twice as many and then re-appear in the listings higher than the first initial gain.Is this a procedure Google are following now? I'm not sure, it doesn't appear to be the same with all sites, some are updating in the index quite regularly, others weekly, which is inconsistent.One thing we have found is that you can spend your time more wisely writing valuable unique content for your website, instead of checking where your home page appears too often.If you must check your site every few hours there are some great seo plug-ins for Firefox that will allow you to do checks quickly, SEO, SEOquake and Firebug should be installed for anyone doing websites, just to keep checking your work.As always with your website, keep the content unique, update it regularly, do it right from day one and the results will come with hard work.

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Search Engine Optimisation

Keywords: Google, SEO, ranking updates

21/09/2010

Twitter's announcement of new improved functionality to their tweeting system is going to be a welcome boost to companies who actively use social media to promote their business, but what will you do with it?At present you are restricted to the 140 character tweets that are short, snappy and easy to write, which is why they get updated so often.New functionality will allow you to show mentions, retweets, searches and lists in your timeline.Related content and mini profiles will show you more information about user's profiles you are on.The most interesting new functionality from a social media marketing point of view is the ability to embed photos, video and media content into Twitter. Twitter has formed partnerships with YouTube, flickr, twitpic and others allowing you to display their content right in your Twitter timeline along with your tweets.This will allow a more interactive experience within Twitter without having to rely on the tiny links to photos and media, but will it be better than facebook? Facebook already allows you to add in the photos and video clips in your timeline.Only time will tell whether Twitter content will prove better than facebook in social media marketing, as they roll out the updates in the next few weeks, we'll be adding some media to check it out and see how it performs.Make sure you don't miss out on the opportunity to promote your business / brand with the new tools.

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Search Engine Optimisation  |  Social Media

Keywords: Twitter, New Functionality, Embed Images, Video

16/09/2010

Faster, cleaner and greater HTML5 support - Microsoft have launched Internet Explorer 9 Beta. Microsoft claims to beautify the web, so will it deliver or frustrate.In the old days developing websites with only a couple of browsers on the market was nice and straight forward, nowadays with the intense competition in the browser market compatibility testing is an important part of the process of building our clients websites.Opera, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari - browser competition is fierce, with Google's increasing dominance in the browser market place. Our Web Design London team are focused to ensure that our web project meet compatibility across the browser set.

Luke Drewer

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Website Programming

Keywords: html5, website programming, internet explorer 9

06/09/2010

Don't hide your content!If you have good content don't hide it away! Bring your dynamic content to your homepage providing rich snippets of relevant information and quickly giving your audience what they want - easy to find, up-to-date information.Examples of content that works well on the homepage are News, Blogs and Video Galleries. The key is to provide just enough relevant and interesting information to make your users want to click through to your content pages. Keep your content fresh and make it available to users.

Luke Drewer

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire

Keywords: website content

31/08/2010

Had a fantastic weekend in London at the Notting Hill Carnival with family and friends. The rain quickly subsided and the sun came out over the parade.Everyone was having a fantastic time and the colour, music and creativity was amazing. The passion for creating the costumes was clear to see and made me think of some projects back at our Covent Garden, London office.Our creative team are an amazing bunch and the passion for what they do is clear to see in their project work.Whether it's designing the flamboyant costumes at the Notting Hill Carnival in London or creating amazing Website Design in London, hard work, dedication and passion pays dividends.

Luke Drewer

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Social London

Keywords: Notting Hill Carnival, Web Design London, Covent Garden

26/08/2010

What Should be in a Web Project Spec?Every now and then we get sent some really bad specs here at Toile Solutions.Being Content Management and Application specialists our work is often very complicated and coding intensive, so making sure the spec for the project is right is absolutely crucial.Making sure the spec is 100% correct is important for both the client and us.For the client it ensures they get exactly what they want and for us it ensures we can accurately quote for the work we are going to provide.In the past month we have had the following gems:-"A site that is the same as eBay, same functionality etc ...""It needs to connect to our back-end office system and generate some reports and data for us ...""... it needs to allow me to sell products, I like the way Argos' site works!"" I want the entire process automated, so it just sends me the money ..."All of the above, as you can see allow a huge area "open to interpretation" which a spec should not allow.Of course, we also get the other extreme, a hugely detailed spec for a site that is very complicated where the client thinks that they have saved a huge amount of time by producing it so the site will cost peanuts to produce. Whilst we like peanuts, this is not an accurate statement!Before starting any projects a detailed spec needs to be produced, this is something we are willing to work with clients on to ensure everything is covered. Writing a proper spec also shows you how much work will be involved in the project, and so should help you to budget for it correctly.

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Application Development

Keywords: Web Design, London, Project, Specification

20/08/2010

'Social Media' It's Not in the London Dictionary!No, it's not the London Dictionary, but the Oxford one, 'Social Media' has made it into the Oxford Dictionary, along with 'Interweb' & 'Defriend'.I always thought Interweb was the word my mum used because she kept confusing it with the word 'Internet'! Perhaps that's why it only joined the dictionary 20 years after it appeared as an alternative way of saying 'Internet'.Oxford English Dictionary (not the London one!) analyses over two billion words used in online or printed media which is why the words selected are a snapshot of the world we live in.Notting Hill, London, Carnival - I can't waitI am looking forward to travelling up to London in a couple of weeks on the Southend to London express! I have not been to the Notting Hill Carnival before and am looking forward to taking my children and joining some of our family for a fun packed day!I will be taking my camera with me, soaking up the atmosphere and will enjoy the London scenery. I will probably be going past the London office, on the London Underground and maybe try out one of those new London pay as you go bike.. all in all, its gonna be a London themed day!

Luke Drewer

Tags: Social London

Keywords: Social Media, London

19/08/2010

Performance Tips Part 1Performance is now a key factor for Google, so where do you start when trying to increase the performance of your website? Well, there are three key areas to consider:-1) Programming - how your site is programmed, and if database driven, how that code talks to the database can impact site performance2) Webserver Software - whether using Microsoft IIS or Apache, the webserver software has an impact on site performance. Microsoft.com reported a 10% increase in site performance when they upgraded from IIS version 6 to IIS version 7.3) Hardware - it goes without saying that depending on your site's requirements will depend on the level of hardware required to drive it. The faster the processors and amount of memory will all have a part to play with performance.The most important part of performance tuning is benchmarking. Find out how you are performing now, tweak then see how that effects performance.Check back for more performance tips... Coming soon!!!If you would like to see how our managed hosting compares to your current supplier, give our London hosting team a call.

Luke Drewer

Tags: Hosting Servers  |  Search Engine Optimisation  |  Marketing Advice

Keywords: Site Speed, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, Performance

18/08/2010

Another busy week at our new London office!Continual improvement is a key aim for us, we are planning our new Customer Care Centre to ensure all of our customer calls are answered and efficiently logged, this is a high priority for us.Our new ticket system will speed up support and ensure problems are resolved to a high standard. Being custom programmed means it will be fit for purpose and easy to use.To see how we care for our customers why not give our services a try, we retain 99% of our clients year on year and nearly all have recommended us to friends and colleagues.

Luke Drewer

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Application Development

Keywords: Web Design, London, Covent Garden, Support

10/08/2010

It's amazing what you can buy in a supermarket today, whether you are shopping in London for your fruit, a nice bottle of wine or even to run a print of your best Facebook snaps. It seems ASDA are to offer photo printing of Facebook shots, the supermarket giant ASDA has teamed up with Fuji and PNI Digital Media to offer photo kiosks in a three month deal which will allow you buy your Social Media snaps whilst dashing in for your weekly supplies.Toile Solutions, a London based Web Design Company have been developing innovative Social Media Applications for some time and can help with your company's social media strategy.

Luke Drewer

Tags: Social Media

Keywords: Social Media, ASDA, Facebook

08/08/2010

It is the weekend and new projects are buzzing around my head today. It is true that sometimes it is difficult to switch off but the opportunity for ideas does not always come when you want them to.I read a fantastic book a while back, I remember it well. A chap was looking into the science of opportunity and had gathered a room of students to watch a pre-prepared video. The video was a basketball match and the audience was asked to count how many goals each team scored. At the end of the video the question was asked - everyone chipped in with their answer.When they had done, the chap said - right who saw the gorilla? The audience wouldn't believe that there had been a gorilla run across the court so the video was played again. Sure enough, a man dressed as gorilla ran through the match half way through the game. The audience had been so focused on counting the score that they had not seen the gorilla.Ideas come when you are least expecting them and if you focus too hard on trying to think up ideas for a particular project, you may miss the opportunity all together.Thinking clearly about a project is one of our strengths, not losing sight of the end goal.

Luke Drewer

Tags: Marketing Advice

Keywords: Creative Marketing, Ideas, Projects

05/08/2010

What is the Most Requested Feature Made to YouTube?Answer: To increase the 10 minute limit.YouTube have responded and announced on their blog that they are increasing the limit to 15 minutes, now you can have your 15 minutes of fame. Using video on your website can enhance your users experience - our own video work is in production and will be integrated into our website shortly. Carefully planned and executed video can greatly benefit visual edge.Three benefits of adding video to your website:-It's Visual - users look for a visual experience when surfing. Most of us would rather see something before we have to read it and more are likely to take the whole video in as opposed to skimming through text.It's Attractive - you want to attract and keep people on your website. Video keeps users entertained whilst visiting your site and so they are more likely to stick around for longer.It's Human - It is the next best thing to touching and feeling your products or services, it makes the process of informing your audience about your product or service much more human - people buy from people.

Luke Drewer

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Application Development

Keywords: YouTube, Feature, Request, Update

04/08/2010

Today I've been working on the layout for a mobile website, it's a scaled down version of the main fully interactive site which really opens your eyes up to one of the most important points of website design.Navigation, Navigation, NavigationMaking the users experience of a website is key in the careful design of a site. We spend quite a bit of time looking at how we integrate the menus into a website to make it as easy as possible to surf around the site, whilst still looking stylish.On a mobile phone with the real estate on screen at a premium the navigation really is key, you don't have the room to add the menu on all pages, but still need to make it easy to get around.A simple breadcrumb can solve some of these issues, allowing the user easy access back to the home page from anywhere and keeping the full menu only on the home page screen keeps things nice and tidy.

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Application Development

Keywords: Mobile Website, Navigation, Design

01/08/2010

With so many different social media platforms out there it is difficult to know which one to be using for your business.I have seen so many websites with a long list of social media platforms that you can follow them on - but are they all kept up-to-date?When deciding, the best question to ask yourself is "What are my clients using?"Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn?Pick just one or two and do them well rather than spread yourself too thin and end up with lots of empty accounts. That's what we do here at Toile Solutions, regularly updating our blogs and linking in with a Twitter feed.

Luke Drewer

Tags: Search Engine Optimisation  |  Social Media

Keywords: Social Media, Twitter, Facebook

27/07/2010

Had a real late night out in London tonight.As part of the new website (which you are now looking at!) we needed some iconic London shots for the background of the site.With everything we do here at Toile Solutions, we don't just rush off to istock, to get those same images that are used everywhere, we packed up our camera gear and headed off to the Big City.Walking round late at night (in the rain!) we spent a good few hours taking shots of iconic images, tourist hotspots and the not so famous areas of the City.You can see our work randomly changing in the background of the website. As time passes, we will continue to add more and more images, to keep the site looking fresh and unique. We may even make them available as wallpapers at some point in the near future!

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire  |  Social London

Keywords: Web Design, London, Photoshoot

08/06/2010

Today Google announced that they have completed the introduction of their new search engine indexing system known as "Caffeine." Caffeine is focused on bringing website content such as blog posts, news, video, images and web pages into the search results index much quicker than before. Previously the results were stored in layers and the web pages gradually moved up at different rates into the live Google search results.To keep up with the way the internet is growing so quickly Google have developed the Caffeine indexing system which analyses the web in smaller chunks and continuously updates the search results, which will mean fresher, newer stories and information appearing in the organic search results.It appears to be important now more than ever to keep your website updated regularly with new content to keep your listings high and of interest to the search engines.The Caffeine update may have an impact on your websites listing and we are well positioned at Toile Solutions to help you with your search engine optimisation, give us a call for more information.

blog link:  Search engine optimsation services

Neil Meads

Tags: Search Engine Optimisation  |  Marketing Advice

Keywords: Google, Caffeine, Update

20/05/2010

One of the scenarios we have had a spate of lately is clients who we just provide hosting for calling us up to tell us our servers are down as they have no email and website.Whilst they may think they are being detectives in their diagnosis (they were incorrect by the way, our servers are monitored 24/7 so we would know before them!) it seems to be increasingly that domains have not been renewed.Where people are changing email addresses and not using a domain one they own, they are missing out on their registrars emails and the domains are then being suspended due to lack of renewal and thus their website and emails go off!We all have to renew insurance policies, tv licence and other annual renewals, keeping your domain renewed is just as important.Keeping one email account forever just for renewal emails is one way of doing this, another is to let us manage the domain names for you, we will ensure you are notified leading up to the renewals, or if you prefer we will just auto renew them each year until we receive a letter from you asking us to stop.Protecting your domain names is very important, companies are automatically snapping up expired domain names when they become available (you may have seen the holding pages that just link to other sites) so take steps now to ensure you keep hold of yours.

Neil Meads

Tags: Domain Names

Keywords: Domain Nane, Renewals, URL, Protection

29/04/2010

It's that time of year again when we all head off to Earls Court to see what's new and innovative in online world at Internet World, our industry's trade show.Via tube, train and car we all met up outside Earls Court 2, had a coffee and got down to business, checking out the competition and seeing what's new and upcoming.Various seminars on Search Engine Optimisation, User Experiences and E-commerce backed up what we already practice as well as opening some new methology in what we can do in the future.Hosting was quite interesting this year, with a big push on cloud computing, this is something we already do in our own hosting infrastructure on a small scale, but it's always good to see what everyone else is doing and where they are going.Video Streaming was hard to track down but we found a couple of software and hardware companies providing solutions that we will be following up within the next few months as we push online videos as part of our seo campaigns.So all in all a good day, rounded off with the traditional stop off at The Ace Cafe for a beer and large lunch!

Neil Meads

Tags: Hosting Servers  |  Application Development  |  Search Engine Optimisation

Keywords: Exhibition, Internet World, Earls Court, London

15/04/2010

Google have announced that site speed is now a new signal that the search engines are looking out for when indexing your website.If two sites have similar content but one loads quicker than the other, then that site will provide a better user experience ultimately, and so is likely to be favoured more now in the search results.At Toile Solutions we have been talking about the importance of site speed for sometime and the effect it has on userbility - so not only do we ensure the code is optimised for speed but also that the hosting of your website is on a suitable platform.If your site is particularly busy or database driven, moving to a lower density or dedicated server is now more important than ever in the drive for more traffic from the search engines.

blog link:  Managed servers for maximum site performance

Luke Drewer

Tags: Hosting Servers  |  Search Engine Optimisation  |  Marketing Advice

Keywords: Server Performance, Website Speed, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO

15/03/2010

Getting current, regularly updated content onto your pages is always the key goal of any search engine optimisation campaign, but is there a way of achieving it without spending countless hours each day creating the content in the office and publishing it up?"Yes" is the quick answer. "Using social media within your own Company's website" is the longer one!By integrating social media into your own website, you can set up your own website community, making it a hub people will return to again and again.This has two benefits to you as the website owner. Firstly, your website becomes 'sticky' and visitors will keep returning again and again.Secondly, the users create the content themselves, which gives your community more and more unique content without your own staff having to generate it, so its a win win situation, the users get a great community they can find information within and enjoy taking part in, whilst generating content for your site which will in turn attract more visitors.Having identified social media as a major part of the future of the way seo is carried out, Toile Solutions is currently working on a centralised social media system that will allow easy integration into any website.

Neil Meads

Tags: Application Development  |  Social Media

Keywords: Social Media, Web Design, London

11/02/2010

Today was one of those days, constant sales calls from the usual suspects...Q: Do we want to change our electricity supplier?A: NoQ: Do we want to change our gas supplier?A: No we don't have gas!Q: Would we like a conservatory?A: We are on the 1st & 2nd floors of the building. Then again, maybe I should have requested a quote!Then the call I always love:"We can get you top of Google, guaranteed, no problem, 24 hours, no need to change your website, we can do it all remotely, only £600...."Now this we know is as about as real life as the gadgets we saw on 'Tomorrows World' twenty years ago (I'm still waiting for butler robots!)So after listening to their pushy pushy sales pitch, I decided to turn the tables, asking:"How does your work help with my sites internal linking structure?""How can you help with my keywords in my text by not changing it?""I have no title bar data or H1 tag is that ok?"You can almost hear the cogs turning as they flick through their pre-written speech for the answers, at this point they usually hang up!If it was that easy there would be no point in doing Search Engine Optimisation, but luckily it is, it's an art and something we enjoy doing. If you would like to talk to a Company that won't lie to you over SEO, here we are!

Neil Meads

Tags: Search Engine Optimisation

Keywords: Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, Misleading, Sales Calls

20/01/2010

How time flies!It doesn't seem five minutes ago that we were kitting out the new office with desks, chairs, air conditioning, meeting room, green screen equipment and networking.Yet here we are now twelve months on and double the size we previously were. More staff, lots more work and almost to the point of outgrowing the offices...Luckily for us, we have a good bakers round the corner so the anniversary cake was easy to get hold of and was rather tasty!!For those of you who haven't visited us at the new offices yet, just give us a call and let us know when your coming in and we'll get the kettle on and the biscuits in!It's often easier to explain what you need face to face and we are an internet marketing company that prefers that to endless emails back and forth.

Neil Meads

Tags: Web Design Hertfordshire

Keywords: Technology, Web design, Hertfordshire, Anniversary